This invention is in improvement to filtering devices of the type disclosed in Rosaen U.S. Pat. No. 4,419,240. Such liquid solid separators of the strainer and/or filter bag type are in prevalent use throughout industry. The present invention was conceived and developed for use to separate sand and finer particulates from the water which is injected into oil bearing earth formations to displace the oil occurring in these formations over to adjacent well bores where it can be produced for marketing. This displacement process is commonly referred to as "water flooding" and is used extensively in oil fields for the secondary recovery of oil.
Such liquid solids separators are additionally used to separate particulates from liquid petroleum products such as glycol, lube oil, fuel gas, amine, and in other petroleum and chemical process applications. The pressure vessels and piping utilized in such filter or screening systems are designed for exemplary working pressures of from around 100 psi to as much as 5,000 psi, as determined by the ASME Code and similar codes.
Various kinds of bags, screens and "cartridges" are employed in these systems to trap the particulates from the liquids passing through the systems. The solids separator elements are designed for liquid flow rates from 1 gpm to 250 gpm, as examples. The solids filter elements also incorporate design that permits pressure differentials across the separator element of from about 1 psi up to about 50 psi before the solids separation element needs to be changed for a clean replacement element.
Various manufacturers supply these liquid solids separators with examples being: Flo-Trend, Inc., Houston, Tex.; Nowata Filtration, Nowata, Okla.; Filter Specialists, Inc., Michigan City, Id.; Ronninggen-Petter Corporation, Portage, Mich.; Rosedale Products, Inc., Ann Arbor, Mich.; WM. W. Nugent & Co., Illinois; American Felt and Filter Company, Newburgh, N. Y.; and FloTech Fluid Handling, Ltd., in Germany.
Features of the present invention are similar to those disclosed in the following presently know U. S. Patents: U.S. Pat. No. Re. 26,127 to Wade; U.S. Pat. No. 1,482,048 to Swanson; U.S. Pat. No. 2,655,397 to Augspurger, et at; U.S. Pat. No. 3,246,793 to Wade; U.S. Pat. No. 3,720,322 to Harms; U.S. Pat. No. 4,129,151 to Henson; U.S. Pat. No. 4,267,940 to Wade; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,419,240 to Rosaen.